1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a perpendicular magnetic recording head provided with a main magnetic-pole layer.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a development of a perpendicular magnetic recording head is in progress, due to a drastic increase in an areal recording density of a magnetic recording medium (hereinafter, referred to as “recording medium”) typified by a hard disk. The reason is that there are such advantages, as compared with a longitudinal magnetic recording head, that a linear recording density improves, and a recording medium on which information has been already recorded is less susceptible to thermal fluctuation.
The perpendicular magnetic recording head is provided with a thin-film coil for generating a magnetic flux, and a main magnetic-pole layer which leads the magnetic flux generated in the thin-film coil to the recording medium. Various discussions have been made for a shape of the main magnetic-pole layer, in order to improve recording performance.
Specifically, the main magnetic-pole layer is provided with a tapered section, such that a width or a thickness gradually decreases as approaching an air bearing surface, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2003-036503, 2004-342210, and 2006-252620, and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,775,099, for example.